Portrayal of the Prophet Prompts a Boycott of Danish Goods

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 30 Â A long-running controversy over a Danish newspaper's caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad boiled over today with a boycott of Danish products across the Middle East and an assault on Danish interests.

Muslim activists have incited a consumer uproar in one of the fastest-growing markets for packaged goods, pitting freedom of the press against religious sensitivity in a conflict played out in the arenas of diplomacy and global trade.

In recent days, Saudi Arabia and Libya have recalled their ambassadors to Denmark, protests have been held in places like Dubai, where they are virtually unheard of, and Arab and multinational companies have placed ads in local newspapers denying any connection to Denmark or Danish companies.

Today, Denmark called for its citizens in the Middle East to exercise extra vigilance. A Danish manufacturer, Arla Foods, which normally sells $1.5 million of dairy products a day in the region, announced that sales there had come to a complete halt. Two of its employees in Saudi Arabia were beaten by angry customers, The Associated Press reported.

Other Danish companies reported dramatic sales dropoffs as well. Trade between Denmark and the Persian Gulf amounts to about $1 billion a year, Denmark's consul general in Dubai, Thomas Bay, said.

"Consumers have a lot of power today," he said. "I'm a little shocked we were not able to settle this issue before."

The controversy centers on the September 2005 publication of 12 caricatures in the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, depicting the Prophet Muhammad, including one depicting him wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb with its fuse lit. Islam forbids depictions of the prophet for fear that they may lead to idolatry.

The cartoons, says Flemming Rose, the newspaper's culture editor, who commissioned the works, were not intended to offend, but were in keeping with a tradition of satirical cartoons.

"These were not directed against Muslims, but against people in cultural life in Europe who are submitting themselves to self-censorship when dealing with Islam," he said in a telephone interview today. "I wanted these cartoonists to appear under their own names. That was the point of the whole journalistic exercise." The cartoons were republished last week by a newspaper in Norway, further increasing tensions.

The uproar began when Muslim groups in Denmark, and then in the Middle East, demanded an apology from the Danish government. The newspaper has refused to apologize, calling the reaction unfortunate, but continuing to insist that the cartoons served a legitimate journalistic purpose.

"You give an apology when you think you did something wrong," Mr. Rose said. "What we did was perfectly in the norms of cartoons. We are perfectly within the boundaries of Danish law."

Danish authorities, citing freedom of the press issues, have refused to get involved, expressing regret but insisting there is little they can do. They assert that Muslim activists from Denmark staged a campaign that circulated insulting photographs that had not even been published by the newspaper.

A request by several ambassadors from Muslim states to meet with the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was turned down, one Arab diplomat said, raising temperatures further.

"We have freedom of the press and the government can't get involved in these kinds of matters," Mr. Bay said. "If you feel this is a racist step, you can file a suit. But people are now asking the Danish government to interfere and ask for an apology."

Muslims say the government essentially snubbed them in hope that the issue would go away.

"The pictures were published in September and people were simmering, but no one was paying attention to it," said Ihsan Bu-Hulaiga, a Saudi economist and member of the Saudi Shura consultative council. "The prophet? What brought them to this issue? This is the one thing that no Muslim can accept. And where before, boycotts built on political policies were not unanimous, here there is absolutely no difference on what's right."

In just a matter of days, Mr. Bu-Hulaiga said, the issue has taken on a life of its own.

Telephone text message have sped throughout the region calling on people to boycott Denmark and organizing demonstrations, inspiring many to act. Over the weekend, a general boycott began in Saudi Arabia as dairy products of Arla and other Danish goods were pulled off store shelves. Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other gulf states soon followed suit, and supermarkets took to pulling all Danish products from their shelves. Major supply contracts on oil and other industrial goods were also put into question, some analysts said.

On Sunday, Mohammed Al Dhaheri, the Emirates' minister of justice and Islamic affairs, said publication of the "blasphemous" cartoons was "disgusting and irresponsible," the official news agency, WAM, reported. "This is cultural terrorism, not freedom of expression," he said. "The repercussions of such irresponsible acts will have adverse impact on international relations."

In a protest in Gaza today, about a dozen gunmen affiliated with the Fatah party protested at the front gate of the European Union office. One read a statement denouncing the cartoons and demanding an apology from the Danish government. The group fired automatic rifles into the air before they left.

The Egyptian Parliament's economic committee tabled discussion of a $72.5 million loan from Denmark, with newspapers quoting lawmakers as saying they do not want to cooperate with a country that has insulted the prophet.

Tonight, as Mohammad Danani walked past an empty section where Danish cheeses would normally be on display, he expressed a certain degree of satisfaction.

"I will cut them off 100 percent because there is no respect," he said. "It's no longer an issue of apologizing. Now, they have to learn their lesson. And the lesson is: Don't do this again."